You may also be looking for the 1981 cartoon episode of the same name.
"The Fake Smurf" is an episode from the 1961 Smurfs cartoon show.
Characters[]
- Gargamel/Fake Smurf
- Azrael
- Papa Smurf
- Laundry Smurf
- Chef Smurf (Does not speak)
- Unnamed Smurfs
Plot Summary[]
NOTE: The following is simply an interpretation of the action that is shown in the episode itself.
Gargamel the evil wizard mixes up a formula that he intends to use to get his revenge against the Smurfs for foiling his plan to use one of them to turn base metals into gold. Upon completing the formula, he swallows it and it transforms him into a Smurf, but the transformation leaves him without a tail. Gargamel finds a small piece of wood and glues it onto his behind, making it look like he now has a tail. His cat Azrael finds him as a Smurf and chases him out of his castle. He then proceeds into the forest to find a Smurf that would take him to the Smurf Village and soon finds a group of them carrying wood. He then picks up a log and strains to carry it with him as he follows right behind the group of Smurfs.
Upon entering the village, Gargamel drops the log and chuckles as he prepares to plot his revenge, but then Papa Smurf summons all the Smurfs together for a group dance, including Gargamel, who tries to imitate all the steps in the dance, but instead fumbles along and causes all the Smurfs to fumble with him. Papa Smurf stops the dance and has the Smurf who's causing the disruption ejected from the group of dancers, not knowing that he is Gargamel disguised as a Smurf.
Walking away from the group of dancers, Gargamel then goes into Papa Smurf's laboratory and finds a bottle of poison, with which he puts into a boiling pot, thinking that he has poisoned the Smurfs' meal. At mealtime, the Smurfs gather together in the dining house to eat their meal and then leave together, with Gargamel watching them through a window. He is surprised that none of them seem to have fallen sick from eating. He goes back into the house where he found the boiling pot and discovers that he put the poison in a pot full of dirty laundry. Another Smurf catches him in the house fishing out clothes from the pot, and Gargamel humbly leaves, only to later beat himself up over his plan not working.
Looking for another way to destroy the Smurfs, Gargamel comes across a bottle of a dangerous potion sitting on a windowsill of a Smurf house. He spills the formula on the ground and lights a match to see what it does, only for it to explode and cause Gargamel to fall to the ground. Later on, Gargamel hides in a barrel and overhears Papa Smurf talking about the new bridge over the river that he will let Smurfs cross over the following day. This gives Gargamel an idea: through the night, he goes underneath the bridge and chops at its supports with an ax, hoping to weaken it when the Smurfs cross over.
On the following day, Papa Smurf cuts the cord to inaugurate the new bridge, and the Smurfs begin to cross over, with Gargamel watching and waiting for the bridge to fall apart. But the bridge remains stable as long as the Smurfs continue their crossing over it. Thinking that his plan has failed, Gargamel begins to cross the bridge when one of the Smurfs calls him over to the other side, but just as he crosses it, the bridge begins to fall apart, and Gargamel finds himself falling into the river. The Smurfs quickly go down to the riverside, pull Gargamel out of the river, and resuscitate him to make sure that he is all right. However, as they drag Gargamel away to safety, they don't notice that he leaves his tail behind by the river.
Papa Smurf realizes that there must be a saboteur in the village and warns his little Smurfs to find out who that saboteur is. As they look around to find the saboteur, one of the Smurfs comes across what appears to be a tail by the riverside. He realizes that there must be a fake Smurf in the village, since a real Smurf would have a tail, and so he tests this idea out by pinching a Smurf's tail to make sure he is real. He and that other Smurf go to pinch other Smurfs' tails to make sure they are also real Smurfs. Gargamel watches from inside a house at the Smurfs pinching each other's tails, wondering why, when he feels around his behind and realizes that his tail is gone. A few Smurfs find him inside the house, realizing that they have found their fake Smurf, and chase after him.
Gargamel runs into Papa Smurf's laboratory, sealing the door as he gathers the ingredients together to make a formula that would restore his original form. He tells Papa Smurf and the other Smurfs who he really is and what he plans to do. Papa Smurf gets a few Smurfs to pound on the door with a battering ram so they could stop Gargamel before he completes the formula. But by the time they get the door open, it is too late: Gargamel now has the completed formula and swallows it, transforming him back to his original human appearance. However, Gargamel realizes that the formula didn't restore him to his original size, and so the Smurfs gather around him, pound him silly, and give him a big boot out of the village. The Smurfs rejoice and wave goodbye to their adversary and to the audience as the story ends.